What's In Your Kid's Lunches?

It is a question we parents ponder on a daily basis: how to pack a healthy lunch our kids will actually eat?

With news of Maple Leaf having food safety problems again, and talk of pre-packaged foods having more salt & chemicals than our bodies know how to process, moms and dads are concerned about both food safety and nutrition as we slam the lids on lunchpails (or zip the zippers on the more popular lunchbags.)  Let's not forget the allergy restrictions on Canada's old favorite either: peanut butter sandwiches.

My kids would eat peanut butter every day for the rest of their school career if I was allowed to send it.  With that option gone, I've tried to feed them fresh deli meat but the shelf life of deli meat sure doesn't last the whole work week and who has time to shop more than once?

Here are some ideas I've come up with, but I would love to hear your ideas in the comments since it's only November and my kids are already getting sick of some of these things:

• tortillas with shredded cheese, sliced red pepper (did you know a red pepper has twice the vitamin C as an orange?) and sour cream;
• tortillas with strawberry cream cheese wrapped around a banana;
• crackers, sliced cheese & shaved ham;
• celery/carrots with salad dressing;
• pita bread with spinach dip;
• leftover soup, spaghetti or chili in a thermos;
• tuna salad or egg salad on a bun
• fruit, fruit and more fruit.

Most parents I know, don't have time to be elaborate with school lunches, and I always have an issue with packing lunches the night before because bread becomes soggy and the like.  My kids are very vocal if they don't like something and lately they are becoming increasingly pickier.

Another thing we've done (and should do again) is let them pick out things from the grocery store.  It's a great opportunity for them to feel a part of the process and that's how they have discovered that they like many new things.  My oldest has a love for sushi now!

Whatever the lunchbag brings, my heart still misses peanut butter.

This is an original post to Canada Moms Blog. Web Designer Karen Bodkin also blogs at her personal blog Karen Sugarpants and Craftastrophe, "because handmade isn't always pretty."

Photo credit: wellsphere.com